I just realized, I wrote Raiden Mei at chapter 3 before. But she's not Raiden one. It's on me, my bad. I've change it now.
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"So, now what? Does anyone have a plan?" The orange-haired kid—Yahiko—asked.
While the others looked confused, I'm not. I already had a plan.
"For now, I will gather information. You all stay put and I'll tell you once everything is certain," I said.
Yahiko nodded. "Then I'm counting on you."
I snapped my fingers and my magic spread through the forest, expanding into a kind of radar that detected anything up to 2 kilometers effectively and 4.5 kilometers as the absolute limit.
I could notice the others' puzzled expressions as I remained silent after the snap. But I ignored them and focused on several presences I found roughly 900 meters from our position. It is surely not War-Dummy Mutant.
"All right, I have news." I looked at them calmly. "Before we go to the place I found, I want to tell you some information I got after using magic to scout the location."
They only nodded.
"Our enemies are mutated humans, infected by some fungus, and when we get there you'll be able to see obvious traits of them. The most certain one is fur on their bodies and their skin tends to be gray. They're feral and have great strength—so for now, I'll protect Mei while you can focus on protecting yourselves," I explained.
"I understand." Yahiko nodded.
I wasn't sure how far War-Dummy Mutant's progress was, but everything matched my suspicion. For now, we must not be separated because I need to gather information.
"We will move together until I meet War-Dummy Mutant and get more information."
"All right."
I glanced at Yahiko and Kanae. Both of them clearly had bodies beyond ordinary humans while I myself could do the same because of magic. As for Mei ….
"Mei, what did you get from the Beginner Pack?" I asked.
"… I haven't opened it yet."
"Then open it. Maybe you can use it to support yourself in unexpected moments."
The nerdy girl nodded and opened the Beginner Pack. Although I could see the holographic display, there were no words or images visible, like the hologram was just a board. Possibly, this was what Yahiko and Kanae also saw when looking at other people's system screens.
"I got something that's called Spirit Zone and its manual, and a pair of glasses…" Not even five minutes later Mei answered.
Spirit Zone. I knew something about that because I had seen it when I chose the magic development path I could take. It seemed Mei didn't get the same choices as I did, hers just like Kanae's.
But, glasses?
"What kind of glasses?"
"They're similar to mine, but it says they'll work like an assistant … you could say they're like AR glasses," Mei replied as she took out the glasses she had just retrieved from Storage.
"… May I check the description?"
The glasses were nearly identical to the ones she was currently wearing. However, in terms of function, these glasses were better and made it easier for someone like Mei to calculate formulas needed for magic inside the Spirit Zone. The glasses also had the usual prescription function that matched Mei's degree of nearsightedness.
I returned it to Mei.
Maybe they came as glasses instead of contact lenses because they were only from the Beginner Pack.
"Use them. I'll carry you so you can read while we move."
"Eh …?!" Mei widened her eyes as she changed glasses.
"Don't worry, even though we'll move quite fast, I'll use a Wind Barrier for you."
Her hesitation didn't seem to come from the Wind Barrier, but from something else. Like the physical contact between us. That was probably what bothered her.
I shook my head. "Although I'm reluctant too, you have no way to match the running speed of a ninja, samurai, and a wizard right now, and if we prolong our stay here, who knows what might happen to War-Dummy Mutant, and even ourselves."
Mei turned her face away and lowered her head, before straightening her shoulders a moment later.
Her eyes looked at me with determination. "I understand. I'll do it."
I nodded, but before letting her climb up, I handed her my coat. "At least this will keep you safe."
She accepted it without protest. "Thank you."
I turned and crouched. "Please."
After a short pause, I felt Mei's weight on my arms and back. I lifted her and she was careful not to press her body too close to mine. "Then, enjoy your reading while we move. This won't take long."
"… Fine. Um, thanks."
I looked at Yahiko and Kanae. "We'll go, follow me."
I activated the Wind Barrier and dashed toward where I sensed the aura of several living beings with Kanae and Yahiko following behind.
On my back I could hear the rustle of pages clearly because the Wind Barrier shielded us. So even though we were moving very fast, we were not affected by the wind at all.
"—There they are." I said.
I felt the girl on my back move her hand. My voice made her lose focus on the book and look at what lay ahead of the four of us.
"Kanae!"
"All right!"
With a single response I could see an illusion of flowers following Kanae as she raced toward the lycan—wolf-human—ferociously yet gracefully. Her sword sliced those nearby and ended their lives in a single, swift cut.
—[Fourth Form: Crimson Hanagoromo].
A sword technique that produces a single blade stroke capable of moving flexibly yet gracefully, like a flower swayed by the wind.
"Ugh …." I could hear Mei's sound, a normal reaction to seeing a body cut apart gruesomely.
"You need to get used to it … We'll keep seeing things like this from now on," I whispered.
Although I couldn't see it directly, Mei nodded. Her grip tightened on the shoulder of my coat.
We stopped at the front of a church. This is where I sense the only possible human presence and supposedly, he was War-Dummy Mutant. Mei climbed down from my back as we could see a wooden church building towering ahead. That was the building currently occupied by War Dummy Mutant.
"Stay alert and don't get bitten," I said. Without looking, I could still perceive the world beyond normal sight clearly through Mana Sense—simply a magical perception technique capable of detecting the existence of living and dead beings like echolocation.
Seeing a monster approaching from the front, my hand extended a Mana Blade and swung, cutting its arm, before cutting diagonally from shoulder to waist like slicing tofu.
I pushed open the church door that was abandoned, but it was locked and barred from the inside. With magic, I transmitted my voice into the church.
"War-Dummy Mutant, we're at the door."
"… You can open it!"
A man's shout in English sounded clearly, though slightly muffled by the door. Through Mana Sense I could locate him a few meters from the door after opening the hinge. With a shotgun in his hand, aimed at the door, he was ready to kill us if he considered us a threat.
I looked at them. "Everyone stand behind me. No one stand on the side," I ordered.
They nodded. I used protective magic and opened the door at a normal pace.
A creak sounded from the door, the hinge parts clearly rusted by age. When we stepped on the wooden floor, another creak was heard but lighter.
I could see War-Dummy Mutant's hand tense slightly and show a confused expression, which was then replaced by a slightly relaxed atmosphere, though still with the weapon ready to fire.
No wonder he was confused. Four East Asian-faced people wearing diverse clothing—a black uniform with a haori and a sword at the waist, a brown coat with uniform, a keikogi-like outfit, and an ordinary black shirt-and-trousers suit. Clothing you would hate in winter, yet we wore them as though we were the odd ones.
"Nice to meet you, we're from the Deadman's Rebellion chat group. I'm Ordinary Person, just call me Kiriya," I said. I glanced at the three behind me.
I pointed to Yahiko, Mei, and Kanae in order, introducing them to War Dummy Mutant on behalf of the others. "He's Ramen Topping Wannabe, then Nerdy Raijin, and Frozen Flower."
"Nice to meet you." Kanae greeted with a bow. "I'm Frozen Flower, you can call me Kanae."
"I'm Yahiko, nice to meet you, Mr. War Dummy Mutant," Yahiko said.
"I'm Mei."
Seeing us, he nodded. "Yes, my name is Ethan. If you intend to help, you should think twice—your lives will be at stake here."
"Thanks for your concern, but we understood that when we all ended up here," I replied.
Although all this was forced by the system, I had already told them their lives could end at any time. To reassure Ethan, the others nodded in agreement.
In the end, everyone here would face life-and-death situations like Ethan had. Perhaps worse than what Ethan Winters experienced.
Yet Ethan still showed hesitation. Of course, I would also doubt them when the oldest among us was a university student, and there was even a boy not yet fifteen.
"Since we've introduced ourselves, I'll check the situation first," I said.
Before they could say anything, I disappeared from the spot, erasing my presence from their perception. I left without a trace and flew up into the sky, observing the situation from above.
Not only to identify the area to make an appropriate plan, but also to leave a strong impression on Ethan Winters so he would know we were not ordinary humans.
Using magic, just like before, I enhanced my senses. Gathering information this way was quite dangerous if the heightened senses became too sensitive to the point where even the smallest details like dust and insects were detected. Because that would exert a powerful strain, not only physically but also psychologically.